Bedford County Clerk of Courts
Bedford County uses a split clerk structure, but several roles are combined locally. Sheri Lowery is listed as Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts, and statewide UJS directories list Sheri Lowery for Bedford County Clerk of Courts and Orphans' Court Clerk. The office address is 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522. The phone number is 814-623-4833, fax is 814-623-4831, and the county email is pcoc@bedfordcountypa.org. Brian Way is listed as 1st Deputy of the Criminal Division.
The Clerk of Courts function is the criminal filing side of the Court of Common Pleas. That means it is not the first stop for civil divorce, custody, or judgment files, which are Prothonotary records. It is also not the same as the Register of Wills appointment process for opening an estate. The local office may share space and staff names, but the record type decides the access path. For civil records, use the Bedford County Prothonotary path. For criminal Common Pleas files, use Clerk of Courts and UJS docket channels.
Clerk of Courts / Clerk of Orphans' Court
Clerk: Sheri Lowery
200 South Juliana Street
Bedford, PA 15522
814-623-4833
pcoc@bedfordcountypa.org
County business hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Bedford County Criminal Clerk Records
Criminal Common Pleas records in Bedford County are searched first through Pennsylvania's UJS Case Search when the public docket is available. UJS covers criminal Courts of Common Pleas, Magisterial District Courts, appellate courts, and Philadelphia Municipal Court. For Bedford County criminal records, useful search modes include participant name, docket number, OTN, complaint number, incident number, date filed, and scheduled events. UJS results may show docket number, court, participants, charges, offense tracking number, filing date, events, disposition, sentence, costs, and public financial obligations.
The Clerk of Courts becomes important when the online docket is not enough. Certified copies, older file review, criminal pleadings, sentencing paperwork, warrants or case events, and files with limited public access may require office contact. UJS warns that recent entries may not appear right away and that juvenile, expunged, and limited-access cases may not display. Docket sheets should not be used as a Pennsylvania State Police criminal-history background check.
| Criminal Record Channel | Use | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| UJS Case Search | Public criminal Common Pleas and MDJ dockets | May lag recent filings and excludes protected records |
| Clerk of Courts | Copies, certification, local file questions | Office cannot give legal advice |
| UJS request forms | Formal court case-record requests | Submit to the court where the case is filed |
| County open-records fallback | Agency records outside a court case file | Court case records follow judiciary policy |
Bedford County Orphans' Court Clerk
The Clerk of Orphans' Court role overlaps with estate and fiduciary court matters, but routine probate of wills and grant of letters is handled through the Register of Wills. Bedford County's Register of Wills is Acting Register Alyssa N. Miller, phone 814-623-4836, fax 814-624-0488, and email randr@bedfordcountypa.org. The office is in Room 106 on the first floor of the courthouse and is open for probates and filings from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. An appointment is required to open an estate.
Orphans' Court records may involve estates, guardianships, minors' estates, fiduciary petitions, and related court orders. Some files are public, some are restricted, and some require court staff review before release. If the request is for a will, letters testamentary, or letters of administration, start with the Register of Wills. If the request is for a litigated Orphans' Court matter, a guardianship court filing, or an Orphans' Court order, the Clerk of Orphans' Court and court office may be involved. The Bedford County Orphans' Court / Register of Wills page covers the estate search path in more detail.
Request Bedford County Clerk Copies
Certified copies from the Clerk of Courts or Clerk of Orphans' Court are used when a record must carry official proof from the filing office. Criminal case dispositions, sentencing orders, docket entries, and Orphans' Court orders may need certification for an agency, employer, licensing board, appeal, or another court. A public UJS printout is useful for locating a docket, but it is not always a certified record.
- Identify the record as criminal Common Pleas, Magisterial District, Orphans' Court, or Register of Wills.
- Search UJS for criminal docket details or use the Register of Wills/Kofile route for estate records.
- Contact the Bedford County office with party names, docket number, filing date, and record type.
- Ask whether the file is public, restricted, sealed, expunged, or available only by court order.
- Confirm the certification fee, copy fee, and accepted payment before pickup or mailing.
Bedford County Clerk Request Fields
No separate local request form field inventory was captured in the official HTML research for the Clerk of Courts or Clerk of Orphans' Court. The fields below reflect the details documented as useful across UJS search, formal case-record requests, and office routing. They should be supplied only as needed for the official request channel.
| Field | Best For | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Docket number | Criminal and Orphans' Court case files | Use UJS or prior court papers when available |
| OTN, complaint, or incident number | Criminal Common Pleas records | UJS supports these criminal search modes |
| Participant or party name | Name-based searching | Include spelling used in the court record |
| Record type | Routing to the correct clerk function | Examples include disposition, sentence, order, letters, or guardianship filing |
| Copy certification need | Fee and processing | State whether a certified copy is required |
Bedford County Clerk Fees
The research captured some official fee facts but not a full local Clerk of Courts or Orphans' Court fee schedule in HTML. UJS financial-record requests have statewide charges for certain financial records. Bedford County marriage-license name correction is $91, but that is tied to marriage licensing through the same combined office rather than a criminal copy fee. For Clerk of Courts criminal copies, certified dispositions, Orphans' Court certified orders, or estate-related clerk costs, confirm the current fee with the office before sending payment.
| Fee Topic | Official Amount or Note |
|---|---|
| UJS financial-record photocopies | $0.15 per page for 11 or more pages |
| UJS financial-record CD | $5, plus actual postage where applicable |
| Marriage license name correction | $91, paid by cash, check, or money order |
| Clerk of Courts certified criminal copies | Amount not located in official HTML sources reviewed |
| Orphans' Court copy or filing fees | Confirm with the office or official fee schedule |
Restricted Bedford County Clerk Records
Clerk records can be public, partly public, or restricted. UJS and Pennsylvania judiciary policy limit access to juvenile records, expunged records, limited-access cases, adoption records, sealed matters, mental-health materials, victim-sensitive information, minor names, Social Security numbers, financial account data, and medical information. Criminal-history dissemination for background checks is primarily handled through Pennsylvania State Police channels under state law, not by treating a court docket as a complete background report.
If a Bedford County criminal case was expunged or placed under limited access, a correct name or docket search may still return no public result. If an Orphans' Court matter involves a minor, guardianship, or protected person, staff may limit what can be copied. Use the official court request forms and confidential information forms where required. The office can explain record availability and filing procedure, but it cannot give legal advice about sealing, expungement, guardianship rights, or appeal strategy.
Bedford County users should also distinguish a court case record from a criminal-history report. UJS dockets and Clerk of Courts files show court activity, charges, events, dispositions, and sentencing where public. Pennsylvania criminal-history dissemination for individuals and noncriminal justice agencies is handled primarily through Pennsylvania State Police channels. A docket can help identify what happened in a Bedford County case, but it is not the official statewide background-check product.
For Orphans' Court, the same caution applies in a different way. A docket or order may prove that the court acted, while the Register of Wills file may hold the will, letters, or estate papers. Ask which office has the exact document before ordering copies.
Central Court can also affect criminal-record routing. Bedford County holds Central Court at the courthouse on Wednesdays for countywide preliminary hearings. A criminal matter may begin at the MDJ level, appear in UJS, move through Central Court, and later become a Common Pleas criminal file. When requesting a certified criminal record, identify the stage of the case and the docket number if known so the Clerk of Courts can distinguish preliminary material from Common Pleas filings.
For estate-related Orphans' Court records, the best first question is whether the document is a court order, a will, or letters. Each points to a different search path.